success depends partly on whether mitch mcconnell decides to filibuster any legislation. there is senate republicans who are willing to compromise in order to avoid the fiscal cliff. including kay bailey hutchison of texas and johnny isakson of georgia. >> time is running out. and the truth of the matter is, if we do fall off the cliff after the president's maturitied, he'll come back, propose just what he proposed yesterday in leaving washington and we'll end up adopting it. why should we put the markets mn such turmoil and the people in misunderstanding or lack of confidence? why don't we go ahead and act now? >> the president is insisting tacks go up for the wealthy, but he's now scaled back his expectations for the rest of the year focusing only on a middle class tax cut and extended unemployment benefits. he said he still thinks some kind of deal can be reached, but that optimism is not shared by everyone. >> in the aftermath of the house republicans rejecting speaker boehner's so-called plan b, it's the first time that i feel it's more likely that we will go over th